She Means Business

Sipping a caramel macchiato in Starbucks on a warm Wednesday afternoon, Kristin Schappell appears to be the epitome of a Penn State sorority girl. Tall and thin with natural platinum blonde hair and clear blue eyes, based off of looks alone, she is undeniably every guy’s dream girl.

But Schappell is anything but the typical sorority girl. In fact, she’s about as well-rounded as they come. The senior finance major spent her summer in Manhattan as an intern with what was then one of the nation’s top investment banking firms, Lehman Brothers, before the recent stock plunge.

The Delaware County native admitted that, when it came to Wall Street, her beauty often worked against her. As an intern, Schappell said she had to work harder than her peers to prove that she’s got brains to go with her beauty, sometimes not leaving the office until 4 a.m.

“I’m a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl with a tan,” Schappell said. “In college that’s great. But in the working world, it’s really hard to get rid of the dumb blonde stereotype.”

But Schappell doesn’t stop at prestigious internships. She is the vice president of recruitment for her sorority, Alpha Sigma Alpha, as well as an athlete. Schappell plays four intramural sports for Penn State: soccer, basketball, racquetball, and tennis, a sport she competed in on a state level in high school.

So what does the student/finance intern/sorority officer/athlete like to do in her spare time? Help others. Schappell recently teamed up with friend and Blue Band member Steve Sharer, a sophomore IST major who created a Web site called Volunteer @ Penn State (www. psuvolunteer.wordpress.com). Besides Schappell’s experience volunteering at the Penn State Tennis Center and her community service involvement through her sorority, including THON, Schappell wanted more opportunities to volunteer.

But after looking on Penn State’s Web site and not finding a central place where students could go to find volunteering options, she learned about Sharer‘s initiative to create a place where students could easily get involved in community service on campus.

“The Web site was really to spearhead a movement to increase both the number and type of volunteer events in the State College area,” Sharer said. “Kristin has been great to work with. She’s incredibly positive and driven. We’ve been able to really grow the site because of her ideas and her help getting the word out to different organizations.”

Schappell hopes that the Web site will get other Penn State students as interested in volunteer activities as she is. This past summer she volunteered with Lehman Brothers at a shelter for men who have AIDS, an experience she called life changing.
“Those men were so amazing and full of life,” Schappell said. “They were such an inspiration. I figure if they can go on with their lives, then we all have no reason to complain.”

Schappell said her desire to be involved in everything and to achieve the highest goes back as far as she can remember. Her love of tennis comes from her family, who all play the sport too. This includes her sister, who Schappell says is her complete opposite, although people sometimes mistake them for twins. Schappell and her father, a computer programmer, share a special relationship, which is where she says she gets her love of classic rock music and football. Schappell also said she’s very close with her mom, who is a Penn State graduate, and they talk at least twice a day.

Sometimes, though, the calls to mom aren’t always happy ones. Though Schappell may seem like she’s got it all, she acknowledges that nobody is perfect.

“Everybody has their ups and downs,” Schappell said. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have nights where I had rough sleep. I’m a worrier, and I don’t like to let people down.”

And just like Schappell has her down moments like every other Penn State student, she also spends her free time like one. “I’ve never missed a [Penn State] football game since freshman year,” Schappell said, grinning. “This summer I forgot to pre-register for football tickets and I thought my life was over. Thankfully I found someone to buy tickets from. Football games are when everybody at Penn State comes together, and it’s a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.”

Despite her slim physique, Schappell said her diet consists of Italian food–pasta, cheese, and carbs. Schappell, who is of German heritage, said she has a “fear of nonfat foods,” which aren’t eaten a lot in her family. Her favorite places to eat in Happy Valley include Rotelli’s, Gumby’s, Dee’s, and her guilty pleasure, Insomnia Cookies.

Her best friend and sorority sister, Abby Perschon, said on the weekends she and Schappell like to go to bars together and out to eat. Over the summer, while Schappell worked at Lehman Brothers, they spent a lot of time walking around New York City.

“When you first meet Kristin, she looks like a Barbie doll. She’s very pretty, and the stereotypical girl that wouldn’t be taken seriously,” Perschon said. “But when you hear her speak, it’s like–wow. She’s not the stereotypical blonde, and she probably stuck out like a sore thumb this summer at Lehman Brothers because in finance looks can work against you.”

Through everything – the sorority world, sports, her internship, and volunteer activities – Schappell said if there’s one thing she can do for others while she’s at Penn State it would be to inspire people.

“When I graduate, if I’ve influenced just one person, then that makes a difference. I want to show people that you shouldn’t put any limits on what you can do. Just put your mind to it.”